For this month’s SRC, I was paired with Tara of Tara’s Multicultural Table! Tara’s blog is amazing – like it implies, there is tons of food from all over the world. After looking through her delicious Recipe Index, I realized that my exposure to cuisine worldwide has been severely limited! She has recipes from most countries around the world and everything looks scrumptious!

It was a hard choice, but I chose to make her “Shopska Salata” or Bulgarian Salad. It’s kind of like a Greek Salad, but better as there aren’t any olives or harsh huge chunks of onions and the roasted peppers add sweetness and additional depth of flavour. The red wine vinegar adds a fruity undertone, which really complements the salty goat feta.

Roasting the peppers does add additional time and effort to the recipe, but it’s totally worth it.

Shopska Salata

2 Peppers

1 Cucumber (peel and remove seeds if desired)

3 Large Tomatoes

3 large or 6 small green onions

1/4 – 1/2 c. Fresh Parsley, stems discarded

3.5 oz. Goat feta, grated (to be traditional, use Sirene cheese)

Olive oil to taste

Red wine vinegar, to taste

Salt, to taste

Pepper,to taste (optional)

Heat oven to 400F. Wash peppers, remove stems and seeds and cut in half. Rub with a small amount of olive oil and place face down on a lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 25 minutes, then flip over. Cook for another 5-10 minutes or until peppers are soft, browning and skin looks like it’s separating. Let cool. Once cool, remove skin and chop into bit sized pieces.

While peppers are cooking, dice tomatoes and place in a strainer. Sprinkle with salt and let them drain until peppers are ready, tossing occasionally to help liquid drain off.

Chop up the cucumber and finely dice the green onion and parsley and place in a large bowl. Add the peppers and tomatoes. Toss to combine.

My mom loves Christmas cake. So after I discovered ghee, I have been making a version of my Grannie’s Christmas Cake for her the past few years. I’ve modified it to take out the parts I don’t like and to make it a bit (emphasis on the bit part) healthier than the traditional version. First, I have removed the candied citron peel as ain’t nobody got time for that (aka. it’s gross). Then, I replaced some of the usual candied fruit for unsweetened dried fruit. Third, I douse it in way more brandy than the original recipe called for as it needs to stay moist of course!

This cake is super rich – it’s great when you eat it just because, but it is amazing when you eat it while skiing or while outside in cold weather. I think it’s because the ghee and brandy to help keep you warm!

Preheat oven to 250F and place a bowl or pan full of water in the oven.

Take an 8″ springform pan and line with parchment paper and wax paper sticking 2″ above the edge of the pan (parchment paper on the outside – to do this, I cut out a circle of each for the bottom and then a long strip of each that is 2″ wider than the height of the pan. The length is pi*d, and for my pan, it was around 24″. You do want a bit of overlap, so if it’s too long, that’s okay!)

In a large bowl, combine all the dried fruits. Add the starch and toss until the fruit is covered, breaking up any clumps.

In a stand mixer, cream the ghee and sugar.

Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.

Add the brandy and mix until combined.

Sift in the flours and beat until a smooth batter forms.

Remove from mixer and stir in the dried fruits until fruit is evenly distrubuted in the batter.

Scrape in lined pan and smooth out.

Bake for 3 hrs or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a rack. Don’t remove from the pan.

Once cool, take a toothpick or other thin pointy object (I used one of those turkey skewers) and poke holes all over the cake. Take a 2 -3 tbsp. of brandy and pour over cake. Place cake in a ziploc bag.

Repeat a couple times over the next few days. The cake can be stored on the counter for a few days on the counter and longer in the fridge. It freezes very well, just make sure you brandy it at least twice and wrap in two ziploc bags.

Enjoy the rich goodness!

Note: When you thaw it, douse it in brandy. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Are you a Christmas Cake lover or hater?

]]>https://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/11/30/gluten-casein-and-soy-free-christmas-cake/feed/0BeanChristmas Cake-1SRC: Making Miracle’s Mushroom Sausage Raguhttps://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/src-making-miracles-mushroom-ragu/
https://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/11/22/src-making-miracles-mushroom-ragu/#commentsMon, 23 Nov 2015 05:00:01 +0000http://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/?p=5433Continue reading →]]>For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Rebekah of Making Miracles. Rebekah is a surrogate mother (which is awesome!) and has two kids of her own. Unfortunately, her 17 year old son recently had a stroke and so I ask you to spare a moment to pray for his recovery! She focuses on making food that is “quick, easy and family friendly!”

She has a large selection of baked goods, but I was visiting Mr. Bean in Red Deer for the weekend, so I had no access to my usual baking and gluten free flour supplies. I chose her Mushroom Sausage Ragu and it did not disappoint! It was fairly simple and very delicious, making it a perfect dinner. We ended up making about double her original recipe, which made excellent left overs.

The tart turned out really well and in my not-so humble opinion, is a perfect fall dessert! Mr. Bean kept commenting how good it smelled while I was making it and while it was baking and the end product definitely didn’t disappoint! It was super tasty and had a perfect light texture!

Since it’s naturally gluten free, I only made a few modifications. I used almond flour instead of grinding whole blanched almonds and reduced the amount of sugar to 2/3 c. from 3/4c.

I was a bit skeptical at first, but the flavour combination worked out pretty well! I made a few modifications – I made the pancakes gluten and dairy free to make them more “me friendly”. My avocado wasn’t as ripe as I would have liked, but it still worked.

This recipe makes 6 pretty thick pancakes. They had good texture and weren’t dry at all!

Measure out almond milk and add vinegar to create buttermilk. Stir and let sit for a few minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour and xanthan gum.

In a separate bowl, whisk together “buttermilk”, oil and egg.

Add sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk until combined.

Add flour and bacon bits and stir until batter is smooth.

Fold in avocado pieces, being careful not to mash them.

Scoop out 1/2 c. batter onto griddle for each pancake. (Sue recommends to lower griddle temperature at this point, but I didn’t and they still worked out fine.) If pancakes need to be sculpted on the griddle, add more milk so the batter is thin enough to flatten out slightly itself.

When pancake forms bubbles on top and you can get a spatula beneath without trouble, flip the pancake and brown the other side until the pancake is springy but firm to the touch.

This is one of the recipes that I can’t believe that I haven’t shared as it’s been a summer staple and favourite in my family growing up. My mom would peel the peaches and assemble the pastry as we all waited in eager anticipation of what was coming. Needless to say that peach pastry never lasted long in our house.

It was only until Mr Bean made a comment that I realized not everyone peeled the skin off the peaches before eating them ever. Now I rarely do so – many for convenience, but it’s definitely worth the extra time for this recipe!

The original recipe was made with sour cream and butter, but I used goat yoghurt and goat butter to make it more friendly towards me. I know in the past I have used dairy free margarine for the crust and I imagine that unsweetened dairy free greek style yoghurt would work to make it dairy free. I don’t think that the egg can be replaced and have a similar texture.

You could use canned peaches if desired, but bake the crust by itself first. Adjust sugar levels depending on whether peaches are sweetened or not.

Mix flour, xathan gum, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter using a pastry blender or your hands.

Press into a 8″ x 8″ or 9″ x 9″ pan. Arrange 9 peach halves on top of pastry. Sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar.

Bake pastry and peaches in oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together the yoghurt, lemon juice, egg and sugar.

Remove pan from oven and pour yoghurt mixture around the peach halves.

Return to oven and bake for 30 min or until the yoghurt mixture is starting to brown and crack slightly.

Cool before serving.

Enjoy!

Do you peel peaches before eating them?

]]>https://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/07/31/gluten-free-peach-pastry/feed/2BeanPeach Pastry-2Peach Pastry-4Peach Pastry-1Peach Pastry-3SRC: A Calculated Whisk’s Avocado Pesto Pasta Saladhttps://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/src-a-calculated-whisks-avocado-pesto-pasta-salad/
https://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/src-a-calculated-whisks-avocado-pesto-pasta-salad/#commentsMon, 27 Jul 2015 04:00:40 +0000http://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/?p=5389Continue reading →]]>
For July’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Becky of A Calculated Whisk. She also cooks gluten free (and paleo), so I was was spoiled in my options and with the eye candy of her beautiful photos!

I did modify the recipe as I had basil to use up, so I replaced the cilantro in my version. I added garlic because what pesto is complete without garlic? I used my single serve blender instead of a food processor as it’s much easier to clean. I think pestos are supposed to be chunkier, but I blended mine smooth. I used hemp hearts instead of the feta as I had it on hand and I try not to eat a lot of cheese.

I tried it both warm and cold and I prefer the cold version of it. It goes very well with barbecued meat, making this the perfect healthy summer side dish! Mr. Bean and I liked it so much we are definitely adding it into our repertoire!

]]>https://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/07/26/src-a-calculated-whisks-avocado-pesto-pasta-salad/feed/26BeanA Calculated Whisk Avocado Pesto-3A Calculated Whisk Avocado Pesto-2A Calculated Whisk Avocado Pesto-1A Calculated Whisk Avocado Pesto-4Feed Me Seymour’s Grilled Caramelized Pineapplehttps://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/feed-me-seymours-grilled-caramelized-pineapple/
https://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/feed-me-seymours-grilled-caramelized-pineapple/#commentsSun, 21 Jun 2015 16:15:54 +0000http://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/?p=5378Continue reading →]]>For June’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Kim of Feed Me, Seymour. Kim claims she’s a reformed kitchen failure, which I find hard to believe given her wonderful array of recipes and how she now works as a food editor for a regional publication! She’s an awesome example of how anyone can learn to cook and be proficient in the kitchen!

For once, it wasn’t difficult for me to choose what I wanted to make. It’s been pretty hectic in my world lately, so I knew I wanted something simple. When I saw Kim’s grilled caramelized pineapple, I knew I had a winner!

Mine didn’t actually caramelize given that I didn’t use butter or brown sugar, but they were still delicious nonetheless! If you can have butter and brown sugar, I definitely recommend doing it that way!

This is a dish that I enjoy making and eating frequently as it’s easy, healthy and makes great leftovers! (Anyone cooking for one knows how awesome leftovers are!) I especially love making this meal in the summer on my BBQ. Unfortunately, my BBQ ran out of gas mid roast, so I ended up frying the sausages in a pan and roasting the veggies in the oven. How’s that for year round versatility?

There are a lot of veggies on this – perfect for veggie lovers like myself – but feel free to use whatever combination you want! I recommend using the tomatoes and the zucchini as they provide most of the moisture for the pasta. I usually end up making the tomatoes and zucchini in one pan and the rest of the veggies on another since there are so many. If you like spice, feel free to roast a chopped spicy pepper along with the veggies.

Toss veggies in a few tbsps of olive oil until coated. Spread out on pan and sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Roast veggies for ~30 minutes until the veggies are soft, the tomatoes have burst and there is liquid in the pan.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta and grill or fry the sausages, pronking them with a fork or knife to let the fat out.

Once the sausages are cooked, paper towel the grease off and slice.

You can either assemble the meal in your bowl/on your plate or put everything in the pasta pot and stir until the pasta is coated in the tomato juices. You can add a bit of oil if the pasta is too dry for your liking. Salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

What’s one of your favourite go to meals?

]]>https://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/roasted-vegetable-and-sausage-pasta/feed/0BeanRoasted Vegetable and Sausage Pasta-3Roasted Vegetable and Sausage Pasta-1Roasted Vegetable and Sausage Pasta-2SRC: A Kitchen Hoor’s Bean and Basil Pesto Pennehttps://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/src-a-kitchen-hoors/
https://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/src-a-kitchen-hoors/#commentsMon, 25 May 2015 06:00:46 +0000http://withoutadornment.wordpress.com/?p=5358Continue reading →]]>For May’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Christie of A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures. She likes to cook healthy and low fat – and has lost ~100 lbs, which is quite the accomplishment! Christie is definitely an example of how healthy recipes don’t have to be bland or boring!

I ended up choosing her Bean and Basil Pesto Penne and I was definitely pleasantly surprised with the results! I’ve always wanted to try pesto, but it seemed really complicated or full of dairy. Fortunately, Christie’s version is simple (2 steps!), vegan and delicious! Mr Bean liked it so much that he had huge amounts of seconds! I upped the recipe a bit so that I would use the entire 398mL (14 oz) can of beans.